Joseph Sydney Yorke

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Sir

Joseph Sydney Yorke
Admiral
Commands held
Battles/warsBattle of the Saintes
Awards
Relations

First Naval Lord during the closing stages of the Napoleonic Wars
.

Family and early life

Yorke was born in

George Rodney.[1] Yorke was then present at Rodney's victory over François Joseph Paul de Grasse at the Battle of the Saintes from 9 to 12 April 1782. The end of the American Revolutionary War led to the Formidable returning to Britain to be paid off. Yorke remained in employment however, transferring with Douglas to HMS Assistance, and then moving to HMS Salisbury, under the command of Sir Erasmus Gower, filling the post of master's mate. Yorke spent three years in total serving on the Newfoundland Station.[1]

Promotions

Yorke was promoted to

Post-Captain on 4 February 1793 and given command of the frigate HMS Circe, then part of a squadron under Admiral Richard Howe. He patrolled off the French port of Brest, and captured the corvette L'Espiegle.[1]

Defeat of the Dutch Fleet off Egerö, 22 August 1795, Nicholas Pocock, 1795; Yorke took part in the action

Yorke moved to

third rate HMS Canada. He commanded her until the Treaty of Amiens in 1802 brought a period of temporary peace.[1] On the resumption of the war in 1803 Yorke was appointed to the 98-gun HMS Prince George, followed by HMS Barfleur and then HMS Christian VII, an 80-gun former Danish ship captured at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1807.[1][2][3]

Knighthood and flag rank

Yorke was knighted during this period of service, on 21 April 1805, by

First Lord of the Admiralty and Joseph was transferred from command of the Christian VII to take up a seat on the Board of Admiralty.[1]

Joseph Yorke was promoted to

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the restructuring of that order in January 1815,[11] promoted Vice-Admiral of the White on 12 August 1819,[12] and promoted to Admiral of the Blue on 22 July 1830.[13]

Parliamentary career

Yorke stood as a candidate for the constituency of

Chiltern Hundreds" in 1810 so that his brother, Charles Philip Yorke, could be elected.[17] In the 1812 general election Joseph Yorke stood as a candidate for Sandwich and was returned as its member.[1] He represented the borough until 1818 when he was re-elected to the Reigate constituency, which he represented until his death.[18] Yorke's business interests include the chairmanship of the Waterloo Bridge Company.[1]

Family and personal life

On 29 March 1798, Yorke married Elizabeth Weake Rattray, the daughter of James Rattray, in Ireland. Elizabeth died on 20 January 1812.[1] They had the following children:

On 22 May 1813, Joseph married a second time, to Urania Anne, the Dowager Marchioness of Clanricarde, and daughter of George Paulet, 12th Marquess of Winchester, at St. Martin in the Fields, Westminster, London. The marriage did not produce any children.[1]

Death

On 5 May 1831 Yorke was returning from visiting Henry Hotham's flagship, HMS St Vincent, then moored at Spithead. He was making his way back to shore aboard the yacht Catherine, in company with Captains Matthew Barton Bradby and Thomas Young, and a seaman named John Chandler, when the boat was struck by lightning in Stokes Bay, causing it to capsize.[1][20] All aboard were drowned. The bodies were later recovered and an inquest returned a verdict of accidental death.[1] Yorke was buried at the family tomb in the parish church at Wimpole, close to Wimpole Hall, the seat of the Earls of Hardwicke.[1][21]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t United Service Magazine. pp. 215–217.
  2. ^ "No. 16352". The London Gazette. 17 March 1810. p. 406.
  3. ^ James, William (1824). "Vol. 5". The Naval History of Great Britain: From the Declaration of War by France in February 1793, to the accession of George IV in January 1820; with an account of the origin and progressive increase of the British Navy. London: Baldwin, Cradock and Joy. pp. 333–335.
  4. ^ "No. 15809". The London Gazette. 21 May 1805. p. 683.
  5. ^ "No. 15800". The London Gazette. 23 April 1805. p. 550.
  6. ^ "No. 16632". The London Gazette. 11 August 1812. p. 1584.
  7. ^ "No. 16821". The London Gazette. 4 December 1813. p. 2432.
  8. ^ "No. 16906". The London Gazette. 7 June 1814. p. 1187.
  9. ^ Rodger, p. 69
  10. ^ "Sainty, JC, Lord High Admiral and Commissioners of the Admiralty 1660–1870, Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 4: Admiralty Officials 1660–1870 (1975), pp. 18–31". Archived from the original on 7 October 2014. Retrieved 4 September 2009.
  11. ^ "No. 16972". The London Gazette. 4 January 1815. p. 19.
  12. ^ "No. 17505". The London Gazette. 12 August 1819. p. 1446.
  13. ^ "No. 18709". The London Gazette. 23 July 1830. p. 1539.
  14. ^ "No. 13217". The London Gazette. 10 July 1790. p. 433.
  15. ^ "No. 15497". The London Gazette. 13 July 1802. p. 747.
  16. ^ "No. 15976". The London Gazette. 18 November 1806. p. 1506.
  17. ^ "No. 16366". The London Gazette. 1 May 1810. p. 644.
  18. ^ "No. 18719". The London Gazette. 20 August 1830. p. 1783.
    "No. 18802". The London Gazette. 10 May 1831. p. 901.
  19. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/47420. Retrieved 5 August 2015. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  20. ^ Laughton, ODNB
  21. ^ "Melancholy Death of Sir Joseph Yorke 1768–1831". The Times. 9 May 1831. Archived from the original on 8 September 2008. Retrieved 18 September 2008. (Announcement in The Times, p.3, reproduced at www.wimpole.info

Sources

External links

Military offices
Preceded by
First Naval Lord

1813–1816
Succeeded by
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by
John Somers Cocks
Succeeded by
(Parliament of the United Kingdom)
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
(Parliament of Great Britain)
John Somers Cocks 1801–1806
Philip James Cocks
1806
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for St Germans
18061810
With: Matthew Montagu
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for West Looe
January–October 1812
With: Ralph Allen Daniell
Succeeded by
Anthony Buller
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Sandwich
18121818
With: Joseph Marryat
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Reigate
1818–1831
With: James Somers Cocks 1818–1823
James Cocks 1823–1831
Joseph Yorke 1831
Succeeded by